


The First Ten Minutes

by Spurlunk



Category: Captain America, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Domestic Bliss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 12:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1743977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spurlunk/pseuds/Spurlunk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A slightly tweaked Steve/Bucky AU for the first ten minutes of the Pixar movie Up where Steve is Carl and Bucky is Ellie, and they grow old together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Ten Minutes

**Author's Note:**

> You can watch the part of the movie Up I am referencing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHMD_EqM61I

Everyone knows their story. They met as children. They kept each other alive, they stuck with each other through thick and thin. They went to war, they fought, they came back. It wasn't that easy, there were a lot of things that happened in between, but you already know about all of that.

 

They got married in a small, abandoned church in the middle of nowhere, with just a priest neither of them had met before, and their closest friends and family. The two melded together, for both of them. Thor and Jane were there, Pepper, Tony, and James Rhodes. Bruce Banner was there. Nick Fury didn't show up, but he sent his regards. Bucky's grand-nieces and nephews had brought their families along, and a baby was fussing a little. Sam was Steve's best man, so proud he looked like he was about to burst. Natasha was Bucky's, a small smile on her face and her eyes shining. They didn't pay attention to the vows, they just held hands and looked into each other's eyes. Steve was beaming, and Bucky had his own crooked grin. They didn't need to worry about "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us do part" - they had already done all of that for each other, too many times to count.

 

They didn't build a house together, neither of them had the time or inclination for that, but they did buy a place near DC, and even though everyone kept telling them they could just pay for someone to come in and do it for them, Steve and Bucky insisted on painting it themselves. They went to Home Depot together. Bucky wanted to just buy some paint and get out of there, but Steve insisted on staying to hear the employee's opinions and suggestions. They divided up the rooms to paint, but they did the bedroom together. They both got paint on their clothes, of course, but when Bucky told Steve he had some paint on his face, Steve reached up to rub it off and just made it worse. Bucky laughed, so Steve playfully tackled him to the ground and held him still as he painted a green moustache on his upper lip. They did not finish painting the bedroom that day, but they did inaugurate the beautiful, queen sized bed that had been Natasha and Sam's joint wedding present.

 

The picnics on the hill were Bucky's idea. The playground was not a place they could spend time, since although they both generally got on well with children, the parents weren't necessarily pleased with their kids spending time with two strange men. So one spring afternoon, Bucky brought a basket of food and a picnic blanket and Steve climbed up the hill. They ate, and then lay down on the grass underneath the shade of a large tree, looking up at the sky. Bucky pointed out the shapes that the clouds made. Steve thought one looked like a baby. Bucky agreed. Then they looked at each other, and realized that they both wanted the same thing.

 

They signed up with an adoption agency. Steve and Bucky both wanted a baby with special needs. One was going to become available soon. Her name was Sophie. They made the spare room into a nursery, picking out a crib and painting flowers on the lavender walls. It fell through. The mother of the baby was not comfortable having her child be raised by two men instead of a man and a woman. Steve wanted a kid as much as Bucky, but Bucky took it harder. He was despondent for a few days, Steve hadn't seen him this bad in years.

 

Steve found out about the option of having a surrogate mother carry children for a fee, but they didn't have enough money to afford it just yet. Bucky had no money at all, and they had been living off of Steve's money from when he worked for SHIELD. It was running out, barely enough for them to live on. He got a jar and wrote BABY MONEY on it, placing it in the living room on the bookshelf. With a goal to work towards, Bucky slowly came out of his funk, and they put quarters and dollar bills in the jar every time they had spare change.

 

Life happened. Steve and Bucky filled their weeks with work - Bucky was employed as a nurse's aide at a pain rehab center, and Steve taught art classes at the community center in town. Their weekends were spent with their friends - Sam and Natasha were still working for the government, but they came over and stayed with them whenever they weren't on a mission. The four of them made their own family, it was complicated to explain but the simplest thing in the world to live. Thor and Jane came to visit whenever they could, and Steve and Bucky spoiled their children to no end. They tried to get to New York every few months - both of them were willing to put up with Tony in order to enjoy Pepper and Rhodey's company. Bruce came over every once in a while, on vacations from his work with Doctors Without Borders. Sometimes Steve and Bucky had to use the change in the BABY MONEY jar. Once, Steve used it to fund part of a field trip to the MOMA for some of his best art students when bake sales and car washes failed to raise enough money. Bucky used some of it to pay for the vet when he found an injured kitten under the front porch.

 

They grew old together, like they had always hoped and dreamed that they would, even when it seemed that life would be completely unattainable. Bucky helped Steve dress every morning. No matter how many times Bucky showed him how, Steve's tie was always crooked. It didn't matter how casual his workplace was, Steve insisted on a shirt, pants, and tie. It became a quirk he was known for.  Some evenings, when Steve and Bucky both grew nostalgic for the days they fought together with the Howling Commandoes, they put on music from their childhood and danced together, swaying slowly from side to side. Bucky's ponytail didn't look as nice with streaks of gray, so he cut his hair, short and salt and pepper colored. Steve's hair lightened till it was nearly completely white. Both had wrinkles borne of decades of laughing and smiling together. They lived the lives they had always wanted.

 

Steve had almost forgotten about the BABY MONEY jar, until he was dusting the bookshelves one day and found it. He counted out the money. It was more than enough. He began to go tell Bucky, but then he changed his mind. He did some research, found a mother he liked, and printed out the information. He tucked the paper into a picnic basket, packed some food, and invited Bucky out to the hill by the park.

 

Bucky knew something was different. He was excited. Steve practically bounded up to the top of the hill, despite his advancing age, but then he looked back and Bucky was on his knees, gasping for breath. Steve ran to him, and put his hand on his shoulders. Bucky was ill.

 

Steve went to visit Bucky in the hospital. he had the printout from the picnic basket in his hands, the creases worn deep from being folded and unfolded so often. Steve knelt by his bedside, remembering a similar situation from years ago. Bucky reached up and straightened Steve's tie. He smiled, his eyes full of compassion and love borne from an entire lifetime, maybe several lifetimes, together. Bucky put his hand up to Steve's face and rested his palm on his cheek. He smiled up at his friend.

 

The funeral was hard. Everyone from their wedding was there, with additions, the family of friends had grown, as they tend to do. They all offered him a place to stay, but Steve went home alone, to the place he had shared with Bucky for so long. It felt so empty without him. He would have thrown a fit, smashed furniture and destroyed the place, but he couldn't muster up the energy. He sat down on the armchair in the living room and unfolded the piece of paper. The printout with information about the surrogate mother. On the bottom, in Bucky's familiar scrawl, was a note. "Become a father, Steve. I want you to be happy."

 

For the first time in a long time, Steve smiled.

 

 


End file.
